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Matteo Gritti and Idan Baruch have caught the spotlight after only two rounds played in 2012 in the Romanian top tier, but for the wrong reasons. Both goalkeepers have signed for struggling clubs and their “performances” managed to affect not only their teams’ results, but also their image.

The Italian Gritti, who plays for Petrolul Ploiesti, let in four goals in 180 minutes, against top opponents like Vaslui (1-2, at home) and Rapid (0-2, away), but those received on Sunday evening, in Bucharest, have been related to a story that accuses the 31 years of match fixing. Swiss journalists insist that the outcome of the match was already decided and that the player is part of a network that influences the outcome of games for betting purposes and that an investigation is taking place for months on this topic.

Gritti’s performances cannot be compared though to what the Concordia’s keeper, Baruch, did against FC Vaslui, after a good first performance against Otelul Galati, won against the former champions with 1-0. The goalie from Israel – who last season played in Romania’s second division for FC Snagov, a team suspected of dirty business after some very strange results & high scoring games – offered a rare “show” and allowing three goals in 45 minutes… These images need no more comments. Ok, maybe one: if both scenarios are true, Baruch really needs to start learning from Gritti, otherwise he’ll have a hard time making a career…

Radu Baicu

• 10 years of continuous work in scouting, for top clubs and companies;
• Worked for clubs like Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Hannover 96, monitorring the Romanian market;
• Worked for Birmingham based company 'The Scouting Network' (www.tsn.co.uk) as a football scout;
• Worked for Zurich based company Boutique Football as a scouting network coordinator;
• International scout for Young Boys Bern for 2 years, covering Eastern European football.
• Currently working as an international scout for a top French club, covering Eastern European football.